Bridge/Tunnel Brings a Cutting Edge to Austin's Hike & Bike Trail

Experimental dance and music in the midst of the city's outside

Confession: I see the names Rosalyn Nasky and Tom Benton attached to a project, my interest increases a hundredfold.

Now those two are involved in Bridge/Tunnel, a bit of guerilla art-making in the great outdoors – in the tunnel and on the trail below Mopac, near Lake Austin Boulevard – this Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Nasky, with the Ready/Set/Go! dance troupe; Benton, with an small array of musicians including Church of the Friendly Ghost's Henna Chou, Drew Silverman, and Max Stoffregen.

I reckon that this thing might be like experiencing a Björk video live. I reckon that the only thing better than enjoying a bit of Austin's natural & fabricated world-beyond-the-screen might be: Having that enjoyment highlighted by these performances.

These – if past shows are any indication – vivid and memorable performances.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************
Who comes up with this shit, you wonder? I mean, yes, this is Austin, people are always coming up with interesting creative shit – but what about this brief spectacle of movement and music in particular?
*****************************************************************************************************************************************

"There's a generation of talented out-of-the-box dancers and choreographers here in Austin, and I want to see their work put out there," says Katherine Hodges, artistic director of Ready/Set/Go! "I want to see people take risks and do things that might fail."

But not in, say, a studio or a theatre? Out in one of the more woodsy parts of the urban landscape? Out there on the trail, and in ... a tunnel under MoPac?

"I love working in an environment that isn't a blank black box," says Hodges. "This is a unique place, because the opposing forces of natural decay and man-made infrastructure are already mingled, and the work created for this event takes advantage of that contrast. Several of the dances use the audience moving through the dance as part of the choreography."

And I reckon that you, dear reader, might want to choreograph your own self down to the site at 3pm this Saturday or Sunday – and have something to talk about for weeks to come.